Hardly arbitrary

Did you also know that, so far, there has only been one case that actually has gone to arbitration (Phoenix’s Dan Winnik), and that eight others have been settled before arbitration?

There are still eight others scheduled this week, including Nik Zherdev’s on Friday. It’ll be interesting to see how many actually get to arbitration. Zherdev is almost certain to get there because the sides are so far apart and the Rangers will NOT sign him for anything close to what he wants. In fact, as we’ve said all along, the Rangers are almost sure to walk away from whatever award Zherdev gets, and make him an unrestricted free agent.

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Since I plan to do some Seinfeld trivia on slow days, and since it’s a weekend and thus less traffic here, I’ll start with a simple one:

How does George get his job with the New York Yankees? Share any details you might have.

He got the interview through a girlfriend he got by doing the opposite of what any instinct he would have so during his interview he did the exact opposite of what he would normally do and it got him the job

George went on the yankee blog and criticized Steinbrenner and the yankees, GS got all ticked off and tracked down george and asked him why was he so critical of the team and he.
Costanza told him the reasons and george was so inpressed that he hired george on the spot.

considering the Rangers can’t fit Zherdev and Dubi under the cap, he wont be returning. Its ludicrous to believe that the Rangers would trade away Rozsival (who the Rangers really like) just to resign a player they dont like in the first place in Z…

Yes, another team can make an offer sheet. The Rangers would match it. So nobody will do that. No, there’s no deadline. The only way Dubinsky is not a Ranger is if they trade him for a significant player. There is no way they lose him as a free agent.

Z is just using arbitration to save face for when he goes to the khl and that way if he ever wants to come back he would come back as an UFA, because no matter how much it is the rangers are going to walk away… unless it comes in wayyyy to cheap…

How does anyone even follow a sport like baseball, its like watching Sather think. No spending limits, most of the teams and their fans already lost hope by mid season, a few greedy teams buy players other teams spend years deveolping. Yuck.

Shut up and stop kicking the seats! Or we’ll take it outside and I’ll show you what it’s like. Now keep your mouths shut or I’ll shut them for you, and if you think I’m kidding just try me. Because I would LOVE IT! (applause)

Nik Zherdev, we’re told, is submitting a bid for $4.5 million in his salary arbitration hearing that is scheduled for Friday. Rangers have not submitted yet their number, but could come in under the Goodbye Guy’s $3.25 million qualifier.

Expect the award to be fixed at between $3.85 million and $4.15 million and expect the Blueshirts to run — not walk — away from Zherdev and the failed experiment.

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absolutely they should run away from him. he is clueless if he thinks that he is worth $4.5m after that miserable last half of the season he had.

First of all, love seinfeld and the trivia, thanks carp (on a side note anyone ever watch the british sit com coupling? pretty damn funny). OK, so on to my RANT, I really want to drop the F BOMB here, but out of respect to everyone here, I will not. Tollefsen is in philly today getting a physical and here we sit with no physical blueliner on our roster and philly just keeps adding them. I just DO NOT GET IT!?!?!?!?! The guy isn’t the open ice hitter that gauthier is (umm hello slats??), but he is physical, sound defencively, and will stand up for his GOALIE (man wouldn’t that be a nice change for hank) and other teammates. Not only that, but he makes like a mil a season, this is RIDICULOUS!!!

btw The Opposite is one of best episodes of Seinfeld. here is the line:

George : Well, I wish I could say the same, but I must say, with all due respect, I find it very hard to see the logic behind some of the moves you have made with this fine organization. In the past twenty years you have caused myself, and the city of New York, a good deal of distress, as we have watched you take our beloved Yankees and reduced them to a laughing stock, all for the glorification of your massive ego!

i wish someone would tell this to Mr. Dolan (and the Wilpons for that matter)…

The Ottawa senators are waiting on the Zherdev Arbitration hearing before they deal Heatley to the Rangers.Zherdev gets 3.8 million awarded to him , Glen will sign him and package him along with Redden and Callahan to Ottawa for Dany Heatley and a player to be named later.

Kovalev skating with Zherdev is an enigma come true. If Ottawa came out with Kovalev,Zherdev,Redden and Callahan and only to lose Heatley (disgruntled anyways)then they would declare them selfs winners.

well Spiderman if ya didn’t like that senario , why don’t you give me one better? Easy to open up and say some opinionated wise cracking comment but can you walk the walk talk the talk and type the hype? If yer so good at judging what should be said , fire it up .Lemme see yer senario :)

All these players ask, and get money they don’t deserve, and it’s their insurance just encase they sign with a team that doesn’t go anywhere while he’s there, cause in the end it doesn’t matter, cause they have that big paycheck.

This team has to many of those players, the last thing we need is another like Nicky Z. Ugh these coke suckers make me sick. It’s all aboot greed.

I hope Nicky Z gets a shoulder to the skull while he’s admiring his retarded puck handling skills, and i hope it’s Staal’s shoulder that annihilates him !

Sorry but no one is taking redden off of our hands, but my gut feel says he will play more like he did in the playoffs rather than his first 55+ games of apathy (which would in fact be an upgrade) I think in the days of salary non disclosue, we fans would not hate this guy as much as we do knowing he is being overpaid by at least 2.5 mil a year

Like the offseason thus far, but they have really blown the Zherdev situation in my opinion. They have taken an asset a turned it into a non-asset…

Everyone here killing Z, there is an absolute argument that he should make more than the 3.25 QO, which is the reason that filed for arbitration. The arbiter is going to listen to his side of the story as well and leading the team in points and goals would suggest that he is one of our top players…

I believe that the reason Dubi isn’t signed is because a) he has no leverage in the situation, the Rangers will sign him for a decent amount to keep him happy but he really has no recourse what-so-ever other than signing an offer sheet, which very rarely happens to a player of his caliber and b) to be able to sign Zherdev and trade him- a 1 year deal for him at around 4 million is something that I think teams would go for-

Actually the Rangers “mentally” dont need Heatley the head case. Redden has value to Ottawa still , I know it but hes not going anywhere and Heatley is very doubtfull comming here. Zherdev will goto Edmonton or The azzlanders and dubi will be traded for Vinny.

I hate Friends. Too contrived. That dark haired one, I can’t even think of her name, her face really started to look weird as she got older. She was really pretty when she was Alex Keaton’s girlfriend on Family Ties which was one of the best shows of the ’80s.

Zherdev is gonzo..cant keep him and Dubs, anyway..so, as it stands, is Kotalik the defacto PP quarterback? Sather has not addressed this since Leetch was traded (Redden is a joke).. same goes for a physical Dman..awful..

gotta throw my personal fave “Get Smart” into the mix.. right there with the best of them!

Greg L. – It’s more likely that Ottawa will try to send some players that make the amount of salary that they had to pay Heatley in his bonus that they don’t like so the team receiving Heatley can pay those contracts. That was such a dumb trade proposal. They didn’t take Kovalev’s contract; they signed him to a contract. Hopefully the Rangers will sign Zherdev and then try to trade him for a competent left wing or seventh defenseman and a pick, since he is a former first-rounder himself. You should attend Zherdev’s hearing and propose to him or propose a trade, I don’t know what would be better.

nope even if we waive Voros it only saves us a maximum of 500K. Right now we have roughly 3.5 mil of cap space (assuming the cheapest guys make the team in camp) so signing both Zherdev and Dubi is not possible unless someone is moved…

Hypothetically, waiving Voros would save $1 million, if we put him in the minors or another team claimed him. It would only be halved if he is claimed on re-entry waivers. I think we still have to account for Rissmiller, too.

Oleosmirf and Spiderpig – Thanks guys…Let’s put him in the minors just so we don’t have to watch him score goals off his A$$ then – a million is a million. Give us room to match any offer on Dubi (if there is one)

Some folks didnt know that Richard Crenna and Barbara Eden were two of the young stars that were on Honeymooners episodes, or that Trixie’s character really came from Joyce Randolphs years in burlesque. My two favorite episodes, if I had to chose, was the Blabber mouth one where Ralph tries to make a tape apologizing to his mother in law..And of course the Christmas episode.

ZzZz – the problem with Z is his cap hit is going to go up way too much, his previous contract was an average of $2.5m over 3 years, this arbitration hearing is likely to give him approx $3.5 – 3.75m which is a huge jump. I don;t think we could fit him in at all looking at the current cap situation:

At the moment (if we include Gilroy plus 2 of Sauer, Sangs or Potter) we are looking at $25m on D and Goalies and we have $26.4 tied up in 8 forwards (incl Virus).

So we need to add 5 forwards to the roster for $5.6m: AA is $880k, Lisin $800k, Arnason $700k, Byers $500k. That leaves a maximum of $2.9m for Dubinsky and any wiggle room.
I think Dubi will get a deal for just under $2m per for 2 or 3 years. Which leaves us about a $1m under the cap which allows for an acquisition or two should we look like contenders at the deadline.

Incidentally – if Grachev makes the team above Lisin or Arnason it will only save us $200k or $100k respectively.

We better watch out because when Z signs with a team in our division, the 6 games against us will be the only games he plays hard. We did get 6 good games out of him last year right? Put him in a deal for Heatly.. one loser for another!

UKRanger: “ZzZz – the problem with Z is his cap hit is going to go up way too much, his previous contract was an average of $2.5m over 3 years, this arbitration hearing is likely to give him approx $3.5 – 3.75m which is a huge jump”.

Zherdev’s salary last season was 3.25 million. The Rangers qualified with the standard qualifying 10% increase which gives him a minimum salary of 3.575 million in 2009-2010.

They would not ahev qualified him unless:
A. They wanted him back in the line-up
B. They were going to try and sign him and trade him.

The 3.575 is a pretty good number with regard to what other players with similar statistics to Z’s have been signing for.

If the arbitrator rules close to that number the Rangers can sign him and keep him or sign him and trade him. I’m leaning they keep him as why would they have qulaified him unless they were thinking of signing and keeping or signing and trading? Remember he does have immense skills, is exremely fast and is only 24 years old and should only get better.

After the arbitration hearing….if it gets that far……the team will know what they have left with the cap to get Dubinsky’s deal done.

Remember Rissmiller’s million doesn’t count against the cap as he was waived to Hartford last season. IF Z signs, Voros gets waived too. That is potential 2 million and at least a million and a half if somebody picks up Voros. That goes a long way to helping Dubi to a nice raise.

The only team I worry about Zherdev going to that will come back to bite the Rangers in the rear is the Pens. Too many nightmares of Kovalev and Nedved turning into 100 point scorers on that team. Just as those two guys played with the likes of Lemieux/Jagr/Francis, Z will somehow turn into a perrenial 40 goal scorer playing with Malkin. Otherwise let him go try to find his $ somewhere else.

Although, the important thing to remember is that teams don’t have to cap compliant until just before the start of the season. The Rangers could theoretically take whatever Z’s award is and sign Dubi and work out a trade at some point down the road.

The Rangers cannot sign both Zherdev and Dubinsky. The Rangers have roughly 3.5-4.0 mil in cap space without those 2 accounted for. (yes even with Rissmiller, Grachev and Voros in HFD). How on earth can the Rangers sign both of them. Even if both players sign for just their qualifying offers we still are over the cap!!!

I’m with Oleo:
We only qualified Zherdev so we would retain his rights in order to try and trade them for something or someone else. Z’s days left as a Ranger are numbered (5).

Don’t delude yourselves by thinking we will fit him under the cap, because we can’t fit him and Dubinsky (even if Dubi only gets his qualifying offer) without losing someone else high priced and if we trade Roszival we have no experience on the blue line. Redden will not be waived or bought out simply because that would mean Slats admitting he made the mistake in the first place!

Stephanie Bagely Of ESPN the Magazine will be joining me to talk about her recent features on Henrik Lundqvist and newly acquired Chris Higgins who talked to her about his feelings on coming to the Rangers. The show runs from 9-11 PM TONIGHT 7/27.

In the episode where Ralph vainly tries to re-enact his youthful days with Alice (roller skating, going to dances, etc.), Ralph, Alice and Ed Norton remember some of the dance bands that they used to dance to as kids…

Re Redden being better than Backman, Malik, and Kalinen you left out Ozone, Kas, Strudwick, Mara the first 1 1/2 years he was here, plus the legendary Roman Endur. What is it with Sather that all roads traveled by the world’s worst professional hockey defensivemen come through New York?

Why would the Rangers have qualified Zherdev if they did not want him? To trade him?

Do not know where you got the 3.5-4.0 numbers form.

Capgeek shows the Rangers with 3.62 million in cap space.
In that figure they have Rissmiller and Voros at a million apiece and also Arnasen at 700,000 and Parenteau at 500,000.

Add those salaries to the 3.62 cap spaces and it gives the Rangers 6.82 million needing 4 forwards and a defenseman.

Let’s say Z signs for 3.8 million which is only 180K more than what he was qualified at. The Rangers could sign him and try to trade him. If they kept him they would still be 3.02 million under the cap. Lets say they almost double Dubi’s salary to 1.1 million. That leaves them 1.92 million.
Bring in Byers to replace Parenteau @ 500K. Their down to 1.42 million. Bring in Anisimov to replace Arnason @ .82 million. Their down to 600K over the cap needing to bring up the 6th defenseman which is what they carried most of last season. The Rangers would need anywhere from 255 to 500K to bring in someone like Sanguinetti (855K) to DelZotto (1.1).

Any forward or defenseman that is injured will be making a heck of a lot more money than any replacement that would be called up called up. If Rosy or Redden started the seaosn on the DL that would give the team 5 to 9.5 million to play with.

I am not saying that is going to happen. With the 10% over the cap thru October and the DL that Rangers have some options. And, they could sign and trade Z which gives them more Cap flexiblity.